B.C. unprepared for soaring drug costs for seniors

There’s a sobering message for B.C. in a new study of projected drug costs in Ontario.

The analysis from the C.D. Howe Institute notes that spending on that province’s drug plan for seniors is forecast to soar from about one per cent of provincial income today to about five per cent by 2061. I know of no similar analysis for B.C., so our numbers may not be precisely the same. But our demographics are similar, and it’s a safe bet that we’re going to be somewhere in the same ballpark.

Authors Colin Busby, a senior analyst at the Howe, and William Robson, the president and CEO, propose a partial pre-funding of the Ontario drug plan — a measure loosely based on the principle of the Canada Pension Plan that would see people, in effect, salt away some money during their working years to cover drug costs during retirement

This may or may not be the best way for B.C. to go, as well. But with potentially huge increases in costs almost certainly looming, it’s well past time for this province to look seriously at the issue and to come up with a plan.

Gordon campbell regularly crawled up the backside of big pharma, cancelling an organization praised by doctors worldwide that vetted good drugs and banned dangerous ones!! Just one more example of the bc neo-con COALITION GOVERNMENT ruining all they’ve touched -with their chief victims generally seniors, and the poor and the powerless, and of course, bc children! Shame to all who support or did support them!! Oh, and they’ve ruined the bc economy as well, while canwewst shills look the other way!! THOUSANDS OF JOBS LOST EVERY MONTH BUT TWO FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS OR MORE!! BUT CANWEST’S MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE CORPORATE WELFARE BUM HST BROUGHT TO YOU BY CAMPBELL AND HARPER !! HINT, HINT -BC VOTERS!!